The Night Howlers (Nazi Zombies Crew fanfic) Primis Crew
by bryannaakins560
Summary: Scheisse, I have zero fucks to give right now. I lost both my parents and my husband to the hordes. I've lost every-fucking-thing. Rosemary is all I have. And I'm all she's got. The last thing my sister and I needed was to lose our parents. If it weren't for the fact that Rosie is a zombie magnet, it'd be easier on us to survive the undead monsters...
1. Character BIO's

CHARACTER BIOS

Name: Zelma Aveline Wolfe, age 37 (nickname: Zia, Zee, Ava)

And Rosemary Clementine Wolfe, age 27 (nickname: Rose, Rosa, Rosie)

Maria Lee Wolfe, mom (died at age 54) Severe internal bleeding from a gunshot wound

Varrick Elliot Wolfe, dad (died at age 59) Father dies along with the husband of Zelma to allow them to escape to safety

Zelma Info

Eye color: icy blue

Hair color: medium blonde, flows to lower back, up in a braid, bun or under a hat

Skin color: very fair, small cuts around chin and left cheek from zombies and one long cut on right cheek from abusive partner; burns and cuts scattered on body (self-harm from anxiety and abusive partner)

Build: medium, lot of thin, toned, wiry muscle from exercise and fights; acrobatic like sister

Face: perky nose, small smile, full lips, high cheekbones, small ears with studs in them, widow's peak

Wedding Ring: amethyst with a diamond on either side, silver band

Mom's Ring: a gold band with the engraving Mein Engel, or my angel

Jewelry: small silver necklace with three pearls from mom and a choker with an E Z and W from dad

Personality: protective of the younger sister, undead see Rosie as an easy target and usually target her first; after her husband dies from a zombie swarm, she is more reserved while her sister likes to talk it out and get it out on the table. When faced with zombies, she is calm and focused and slaughters zombies one by one. Preferred guns: LCAR9, VMP, Pharo, ICR-1, KN-44 and Argus shotgun.

Mystery Box: Normally has bad luck and gets downgrades or the teddy bear, but on rare occasions gets a Ray Gun or the Mark II.

Rosemary Info

Eye Color: black, like a wolf's

Hair Color: Brown, short, last cut at middleneck length, puts up under hat

Skin Color: slight tan, minimal cuts to face and body, but more mortal wounds from close calls with undead

Build: thin with some muscle but minimal, acrobatic

Face: round forehead, no widows peak, nose more rounded, medium height cheekbones, wide smile

Wedding Ring: dad's has the words Until The End of Time in german engraved on his thick, gold band

Jewelry: no wedding ring for her yet; has an amethyst ring from mom and a pearl ring from dad

Personality: upset and stubborn when older sister protects her from zombies, she wants to prove herself and strive to be more like her sister, timid and scared with undead while older sister relishes in killing zombies; tries to help older sister gain closure after the loss of her abusive husband from a zombie attack. Zombies target her much more than her sister and while she is eager to prove herself capable of handling the undead on her own, she is a timid shooter, choosing more to run and keep distanced rather than shoot them down. Normally burns through ammo quicker. Preferred guns: RK5, Sheiva, Vesper, MR6, Weevil, Kuda

Mystery Box: Usually gets what she wants or needs, rarely gets a very heavy gun. Instead of a Ray Gun, she will be granted with Cymbal Monkeys and uses them to keep zombies away.


	2. Chapter 0

Chapter 0

Prologue: Ein Gebrochenes Herz

A Broken Heart

They were near an old theater. They had finally found shelter after running for so long. But the sounds of the zombies were too harsh to ignore. She looked at her older sister and she knew what was bubbling inside of her. She couldn't ignore the undead corpses. Not this time. Not when they were in danger. Not when she knew she could actually do something about it.

A bloodcurdling, vengeful scream erupted from her mouth as she turned with her Ray Gun Mark II and activated her gobblegum, Now You See Me.

"Zia, what're you doing?! You're gonna get us killed!" She snapped.

"Come an' get some, you rotten fuckers…" She growled. "Open fire! Now!"

She sprayed her Ray Gun Mark II in a high line, lopping the heads off every zombie that was running and stumbling after her. Her sis fired her Kuda at chest point until her mag ran out and threw two bombs in front of them as the rest of the horde charged on. As she reloaded her Kuda, her sis grabbed her arm and crouched down with her as the explosions went off.

As fleshy bits and torn off rotten body parts flew into the air, a small cloud of smoke hazed in front of the girls' eyes. But were there any undead stragglers?

The determined woman reloaded her Ray Gun Mark II and walked on with her LCAR9 in hand. "Schwester, folge mir (sister, follow me)."

As the smoke slowly dissipated, half a dozen crawlers pulled themselves towards them, but soon met their end as the girls put bullets in their heads, killing them instantly. As they heard another crawler, making its way through the smoke, a small flicker of light shined in their eyes and the older sister holstered her gun.

"Mein Zia…"

"Axel…?"

He fell on his stomach with a dull thud.

"AXEL?!"

She held him in his arms. "NO! Please, verlass mich nicht (don't leave me)…"

Her tears from her eyes were like a pair of waterfalls as they flooded down her cheeks. Her strained and horrified moans set off her younger sibling as she knelt beside her.

"Mein Zelma…" He groaned. "It is time…for me-"

"Nein (no)…Nein!" He lifted his hand and rested it on her cheek.

"You must go…without…US…" His last words drifted from his lips in a dead whisper.

"AXEL…?! AXEL?!"

Another ear-stabbing shriek came from behind her as the smoke finally cleared.

"Vater (father)!"

As her older sis closed her lover's eyes with her two fingers, she rushed to a terrible and heartbreaking scene.

"Aaaaaaahhhh, Mein Vater!" They both held his body in their arms.

"Why, Father?" Rosemary pleaded, crying into her sister's shoulder. "Why?"

Then a word slowly crept out for his little Zia to hear.

"Go."

"Daddy…?"

"Leave me…GO."

She then realized what her lover's dying words meant. She inhaled a crying gasp.

"I can't…We can't leave you…not now."

"YOU…MUST…"

"Come with us, Papa." Rosie clutched her father's hand. "You're gonna be alright." Zia's voice crackled at the sound of her daddy's two words.

"We…We. Can't. Leave. You." Zia gasped for breath.

"Weißt du nicht, mein lieblings (don't you know, my darlings)? We'll always be with you. No matter where life takes you."

Rosemary looked at her ring and at the one her sister had and showed her. She whispered with a flicker of bliss. "The wedding rings…"

"Ich liebe dich (I love you)…" Their Father took a pair of heart-shaped lockets from his shirt and weakly held it up, watching his hand shake.

The sisters gingerly took them from him.

And, with a last whisper, his hand dropped limply to the ground. "Go…"

Zia's cries became unbearable and hysterical as she rocked back and forth with her father's dead body in her arms.

"Come on, sis!"

"NEIN!"

She cradled his body close to her chest and rocked fervently…until another horde was coming into Rosemary's view. Their hungry, bloodthirsty cries slowly snapped her sister out of her despair as she set him down and ran with her sister into the theater just ahead….

Welcome to the theater of the damned….!


	3. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Wir sind nicht alleine…

We Are Not Alone…

Zelma's POV

This old, abandoned theater wasn't much of a home, but it was enough of a shelter for my sister and I to recuperate before moving on. Now that it was just us two, we couldn't stay in one place for very long anymore. The lobby had a raised, circular pad in front of the double doors we managed to hold shut with a bit of rope tied around the knobs. We moved some of the furniture away from the barricade in the event that we would need to leave this theater and relocate. There were a pair of curved staircases on either side of us. To the right of us in the corner was a bar or some kind of area for drinks and food.

I looked around the entire lobby, scanning every bit of this place with my eyes while my sister snooped around the place on her own. Being the glutton of the two of us, she made a beeline for the bar.

"Hey, Zia! Look!" She put her arms around it like she was giving it a hug. It was rounded, somewhat square-shaped. "It says…Quick Revive."

"That's good, Rose…could come in handy later." I mumbled to myself as I continued to walk forward towards the set of double doors between the stairs…until another familiar object caught my eye: Dr. Monty's Gobblegum.

"That's even better." I muttered. "Moving on…."

The double doors were locked. There was another boarded up area to the right of them. Looks like the zombie hordes must have gotten in here, too. The doors to the left down the corridor were locked, too.

"Scheisse (shit)! No luck here, either." I jogged up to the front of the lobby. "Rosie, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

After a wooden clatter, Rosemary groaned. "These doors up here are locked, too, Zee. This map says we're in the lobby."

I started to make my way up the right stairs. "Looks like we'll have to wait awhile, sis."

I glanced at the map my sister was looking over. Drawn out with chalk, scribbled and fairly easy to read. Lightbulbs were placed on the map, too, for some odd reason. I was looking at the bottom portion last; apparently, that circular pad was a teleportation device. There was an even bigger teleporter in the theater on the stage behind the first pair of doors I came across.

The stage or the saloon would be a good place to stay for awhile until the next wave of zombies come again. But until we can unlock the doors, we're stuck here. Scheisse, I have zero fucks to give right now. I lost both my parents and my husband to the hordes. I've lost every-fucking-thing. Rosemary is all I have. And I'm all she's got. The last thing my sister and I needed was to lose our parents. We got separated one time, and we nearly get swarmed by zombies. If it weren't for the fact that Rosie is a zombie magnet, it'd be easier on us to survive the undead monsters.

My mixed emotions and thoughts were disrupted when my sister made a comment on another object that I found weird and, in this case, hated with a passion.

"This teddy bear's seen better days…"

"That's gross…and creepy." I nearly gagged at the caked blood on the miserable stuffed animal. "Don't touch it, Rosie." I growled

"C'mon, why not?"

"Just leave it alone."

"Ugh, fine…"

Suddenly, I heard demonic screams coming from the front doors to the lobby and low growls, echoing from the boarded up areas downstairs.

"About time they showed up…." Rosie said with a hint of sarcasm.

"This should be quick." I growled. "Go get the Sheiva downstairs, I'll cover you with this." I made a dash and got the RK5 and crouched behind the teddy bear stand.

As Rosemary gracefully slid down the rail of the staircase, she quickly grabbed the gun and made her way up the stairs…until some unknown voices stopped her in her track and made me come up from my crouch.

"What are you doing, Dempsey?! Open the doors!" He sounded like he was German.

"Gawd-fuckin'-dammit!" No accent at all. Must have been American.

"Out of my way!" The German yelled again.

"They are getting closer!" L's sounded like R's. Chinese, Japanese, maybe?

"I can't hold them off forever, guys!" The American said.

"Everybody, stand back. I'm going to open these doors!" Couldn't quite tell what part of the world this man was from. Sounded similar to German, but not quite German. Russian, perhaps. I growled at myself, frustrated at my self-distraction.

"Rosie, hol arsch (haul ass) NOW!"

Rosie scurried like a panicked rat up the stairs and crouched beside me just as we heard what sounded like a KRM shotgun blow through the double doors.

"The doctor will see you now…" The German man said calmly, loading his gun.

"Let's get 'em!" The American yelled out as they proceeded to go after the barricades that were being torn down by the undead.

The German "doctor" sliced through the undead with his knife as if their bodies were made of butter. The American soldier used a pair of MR6 pistols to blow away his undead attackers. The Japanese or Chinese man used his sword to cut through the zombies and the Russian one put his shotgun away and used a combo of pistol and knife to eliminate the zombies that came after him.

"Zee, these guys look pretty tough…maybe they can help us…"

"I'll be the judge of that….Follow my lead."

"What're you gonna do?"

"Pull up your scarf."

We were disguised as men, so I pulled up my brown scarf over my face, so that only my eyes were visible. Rosie pulled her black scarf up and we quietly took a deep breath. I had my plain white, filthy tank top; my black German soldier's hat that hid my long, blonde hair; and my baggy cargo pants and combat boots with matching gloves. My face dirty and bloody enough to conceal my more obvious feminine features. My sister wore a long-sleeve dark-green shirt; cargo pants, combat boots and a German side cap, perfectly straight atop her head that concealed her short, brown hair that came just above the top of her shoulders.

I waited until the last of the zombies were killed by these strange men before giving my sister the green light.

"NOW…." I hissed and quickly got up from my crouch, pointing my RK5 at the group of men. Rosie cocked her Sheiva and quickly copied my stance.

"HALT (stop)!" I bellowed with the utmost masculinity.

"Who the hell are you?!" The American snapped.

"Tell us who you are first, American." Rosie grumbled, trying to hide her naturally high-pitched voice.

"We're here looking for a teleporter." He said, locking eyes with me. "You guys seen it by any chance?"

"Maybe…?" Rosie sang slightly.

"Then again, maybe not." I played along with her vagueness.

"We do not have time to dance around this all day!"

"Right to the point then, huh, soldier? Fine."

I held my RK5 with one hand and jumped down from the balcony, landing with a loud, echoing thud. "The map says the teleporter is through these doors."

"Finally, some good fucking news." The American barked.

"But there's one teeny little catch: you have to take the long way around to reach it. Me and my little brother got chased here by a swarm of zombies, so we're stuck here until we find a way out."

"The doc says the teleporter can get us outta here."

"Did he now…? Interessant (interesting)….Okay, men, we'll make you a deal. We help you get to that teleporter in one piece, you help us get out of this hellhole."

"How do we know we can trust you?" The American pointed out.

"We'll lower our weapons if you lower yours, American…"

They all exchanged glances at us before putting their weapons away.

"Your turn, buddy."

I put my RK5 back in my holster as my sister jumped down behind me and put her Sheiva on her back.

"So, now that we understand each other, there is-" I was instantly cut off.

"Something we need you to know about us…."

I saw her shrug her shoulders at me, then it hit me. "What the hell're you-?"

She took off her scarf from her face and removed her hat, fixing her hair briefly. Irritated and annoyed, I took off my scarf and hat as well.

We all got surprised looks from the men as they took half a step back.

"My name is Zelma Wolfe. This is my little sis, Rosemary."

After clearing his throat and straightening up, the American spoke again.

"I'm Corporal "Tank" Dempsey, US Marines. This is Takeo Masaki, Nikolai Belinski and Doctor Edward Richtofen."

Takeo to the far left nodded once. Nikolai waved slightly. After Dempsey shook my sister's hand, I saw her blush slightly. "Nice to meet you all."

I extended my hand out as the German proceeded to shake it. "Likevise."

As another chorus of screams, groans and growls pervaded the air, I looked over Richtofen's shoulder. Rosie began to back up. "Zhey're coming again!"

"We need to hold out here until we can open the doors to the theater room." I told the group as I readied my pistols.

As everyone dispersed, I held my RK5 up to the barrier at the top of the left staircase. "Time to die again, you stinkin' corpses…."


	4. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Vom Fleisch Zum Stein

From Flesh to Stone

Third Person Narrator POV

Zelma and Rosemary walked down the pair of curved staircases to the saloon and bar. They had both gotten a pair of new weapons for themselves. Zelma, a Vesper and Argus. Rosemary, an LCAR-9 and a VMP.

Once the men followed the sisters downstairs, a hushed, deathly silence struck the room. "I think that's the last of them." Rosemary said, holstering her LCAR-9.

"Aww, zhat's too bad. I vas having too much fun." Richtofen whined.

"I dunno 'bout you guys, but I need a drink." Dempsey said, taking a seat on a bar stool.

"Sounds like good idea, Dempsey." Nikolai said, taking a seat beside him.

Takeo nodded once and sat off to the side as Richtofen sat to the far end.

"Is this seat taken, sir?" Rosie flirted with Takeo, watching him let out a small chuckle as he gestured for her to sit next to him.

"Let's see what we got here…" Zelma took off her hat and took off the hair tie that held her hair in a bun, letting her blond locks flow past her shoulders. Rosie took off her hat and straightened out her relatively short hair she had her sister cut a few weeks ago.

Richtofen's normally disgruntled frown was soon washed away when he saw Zelma let her hair down. His jaw hung open slightly. Dempsey raised his eyebrows and smirked. Takeo stared at Rosemary for a moment and averted his gaze.

"Okay, so we got a few good spirits here." Zelma said, perusing the cupboards and shelves. "What're you havin', Tank?"

"Just gimme a shot. I don't care what it is."

"Hmph, alright." Zelma shrugged and found a large, round bottle with no label. She took off the top and took a whiff. "Oooh, perfect."

She poured a tumbler of Jim Beam and passed it to Tank.

"What is it, Zee?"

"Warum (why)?" She scoffed. "I thought you didn't care what it was."

"Agh, good point." Tank downed the entire tumbler. "Aaaah…good 'ole Jim Beam bourbon. Thanks, Zee."

"Takeo…?" Zelma asked.

He looked up with a slight smile. "Sake."

Zelma found a ceramic bottle of sake and poured a shot for Takeo.

"Nikolai, how 'bout some Stolichnaya?" Zelma said, cracking open a fresh bottle and handing him the entire thing.

"Zelma, you are like mind-reader!"

"Doctor?" Zelma asked. "Doctor Richtofen?"

"Ja (Yes)?"

"What'll it be?"

"Hefeweizen, if you please."

"You got it, doc."

After passing him an open bottle of German beer, she got Rosemary a glass of red wine and poured herself a large mug of ale on tap, carefully tipping the glass and minimizing the foam buildup. She gulped down her drink swiftly, firmly setting down the glass mug and reaching for Jagermeister and pouring a bit into a scotch glass.

"Nikolai thinks you are troubled…."

"What makes you say that, Herr (Sir/Mister) Nikolai?" Zelma stopped sipping.

"You drink like I do, child."

"So what? I can hold my liquor just fine."

"You wouldn't drink like Nikolai if you were 'just fine'."

Zelma had a full glass of Jager that was now down to almost half the glass.

"Well, I am alles gut (just fine). Thank you for your concern." Her tone was slightly tense and rough.

"Sis, you need to talk about this. Our father died. Axel died. You can't keep this bottled up forever."

"Watch me…." She snapped.

"Hey, I'm only trying to help you get closure."

"Nein, I don't need to get closure. I know my one and only husband is gone. Our dad is gone. They're both dead and those undead monsters took them from us. What's the point of throwing a pity party and grieving over this?"

"I have hashed this out with you already. You didn't say much but it helped me process this. You need to talk this out so that you can move on. Daddy and Axe; wouldn't want you burying your feelings like this."

Zelma gripped her glass tighter. "Just shut up, Rosemary."

"NO!" Rosie's sudden voice of authority shook everyone to their bones. "I won't shut up. Why do you shut me out? Why do you shut out our new friends? Why do you shut the world out? Fear? Guilt? Panic? Tell me! Why are you so afraid of letting them go?!"

Then Rosie physically pushed her sister by the shoulder, then Zelma gave her sister a backhanded slap to the face. "Enough!"

Rosie fell to the ground with a thud.

"I hate you."

The words hit the shellshocked girl like a stab to the heart.

Zelma huffed past her and stomped away, leaving the men to rest their eyes on Rosie who got up and felt her cheek, wincing at the stinging pain as she began to sob.

"Rosemary…?" Tank asked.

She ran off, immediately bursting to tears.

"Rosie!" Nikolai called.

Then the start of another zombie round commenced.

"The hordes rest for no one." Takeo said. "The girls, they are both in danger."

"Come with me, Tak. Let's go find her."

"Hai (yes)."

"You and the doc go find Zee. Make sure she's alright." Tank ordered.

The Russian had realized a moment too late that Richtofen had walked off without him. "Hey, German, wait for Nikolai!"


	5. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Traurig Aber Schön

Sad But Beautiful

Third-Person Narrator

Richtofen walked on past the dressing room, with his KN-44 cocked and loaded.

"Miss Zelma!? Vhere have you gone?"

"Damn it, German! Wait for me!" Nikolai panted and breathed heavily.

"Valk faster, Nikolai. Ve need to find Miss Zelma before it is too late!"

As they walked through the double doors to the stage, the silence was broken by a soft sobbing voice.

"Zhere she is, Nikolai! Zhis vay…"

As they both walked cautiously towards the center stage turret, they saw Zelma, crouching with her knees to her chest and her face hidden in her knees.

"Poor, sweet girl…." Nikolai lowered his Argus. "She looks so sad, Richtofen…"

"Traurig Aber Schön (sad, but beautiful)…" Richtofen shook his head in disbelief. "Stay here, Nikolai. I vill have a vord vith Miss Zelma."

"Whatever you say, German…"

Zelma was alone in her thoughts, trying to process what she had said to her own sister. She only said it out of anger. But her sister was right. She wasn't processing her emotions or the fact that she lost her father and husband. Her father was always the one to carry everyone and everyone's burdens on his shoulders. But now, it all fell on her shoulders. Her father taught her to be tough and how to fight.

I'm sorry, Rosie…I'm so sorry…You're right about me. I can't deal with this like I've been doing. But daddy's gone…and you're all I have left. I'm sorry that I left you, Daddy…you told me to go. You and Axel both told us to go. But we could've been there to help. We should have been there. We would've died together. But I know why you gave your life for us. Because Mom knows that it'll get better. Maybe not right away, but there will be light at the end of the tunnel….You're in a better place now, daddy. You're with mommy now. Now, you're both watching over us….

Zelma's thoughts were interrupted when she heard the soft sound of boots approaching her. She lifted up her head quickly.

"Oh, it's just you…"

The German remained silent as he sat next to her. "Are jou okay, Miss Zelma?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Dr. Richtofen. I just needed to be alone."

Richtofen turned his head to look at her. "Zhat was very dangerous."

"I know, doc."

Richtofen turned his head to look at her. "Miss Zelma, vhat are jou zhinking?"

"I just can't believe that they're gone…those undead monsters took mein liebe (my love) away from me. They took mein Vater (my father) away from us. My sister is all I have left. The burden my father carried now falls to me…."

"I am sorry for jour loss, Miss Zelma….I understand zhe pain jou and jour sister are going zhrough."

"How would you know, doctor?"

"Vhen I was young, I, too, lost my mozher and fazher. I found myself alone at Heidelberg until I met Doctor Maxis. He vas like a fazher to me. He had a daughter, Samantha…."

He then told her about the experiments, Group 935, Samantha controlling the zombies, Element 115, he confided in her about everything. He even told her about the Summoning Key, the Kronorium and the hunt for their younger selves through time and space. He kept it as brief as possible.

"Mein God (my God), doctor. That's horrible."

"Very much so, ja (yes)."

"Why did you come and find me, doctor?" Zelma wiped her tears away from her cheeks and looked into his sapphire, blue eyes.

"I know jou have lost everyzhing you've held dear. I came to help you. To talk about zhis pain jou're feeling. Now that ve are here, ve vill vork together to stop zhe hordes."

"But you don't know me, doc. Or my sister…why would you and your comrades help us so readily?"

"Vhy should it matter? Ve can help you get zhrough zhis. But jou must put zhe past behind jou now. Look forvard to a brighter tomorrow."

Zelma and Richtofen both stood up. Zelma sighed as she glanced at the small family picture she kept with her.

"Jou love zhem very much, don't jou?"

Zelma nodded.

"Zhey are still with jou, in here." He put her hand over heart. "Jou are not alone, Miss Zelma. Dempsey, Takeo, Nikolai and me….Ve are your family now."

"You promise?" She asked.

"Verheißen (promise)…"

Richtofen lifted up her hand with his.

Zelma smiled and, much to her surprise, he smiled back. He reminds me of…mein Axel. Before she started to cry again, Zelma threw her arms around Richtofen and held him tightly. Richtofen overcame his reluctance and held her in his arms lightly.

Suddenly, the sounds of the bloodthirsty zombies broke the hug they shared. Richtofen grabbed his KN and Zelma grabbed her M8A7 and MP40.

"Here zhey come. Are jou veady, Miss Zelma?"

"I'm always ready….Let's go!"


	6. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Die Stücke Aufheben

Picking Up the Pieces

Third Person Narrator

Crouching beneath the stairs that led to the alleyway, Rosemary kept her guns by her side. She cried loudly and painfully, almost sounding like she was being mauled by the undead. This only sped up Dempsey and Takeo's pace as they weaved their way past the couple undead they encountered.

After exiting stage right and going through the next room, Tank's normally calm demeanor faded and was replaced with worry and panic.

"Rosemary! ROSIE?!"

Not a sound to be heard. So he called out to her again.

"ROSIE! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

Rosie stayed quiet as she buried her face into her arms and knees. Tank and Takeo walked downstairs and near the garage, overlooking where Rosie was hiding and crying. Being very quiet, Takeo scouted the area and listened intently.

Rosie whipped her head up and croaked out their names.

"Tank….TAKEO!"

Takeo quickly turned around and knelt down a few feet from her.

"Misu (Miss)…."

She nodded with a small smile. "Rosemary, or Rosie."

"We have been searching for you. Are you hurt? Anything broken?"

She shook her head. "Just been here, crying. But I'm fine now."

Takeo lowered his gun and held out his left hand. "Come with us. You are safe now, Zia."

Rosemary wiped her tears from her face and slowly took Takeo's hand. "Thank you, Takeo…W-where's Tank?"

"Walk with me. I shall take you to him."

As they walked past the garage, Rosemary broke the silence.

"My own sister, Takeo…said she hated me."

"One says hurtful things when overcome by anger," Takeo said.

"But I suppose I deserve it, Tak."

"Why you feel you deserve this?" Takeo asked.

"Zelma will suffer in silence until she feels she's ready to talk on her own. It happened with our mom. But Dad was able to help her."

"How did your father do so?"

"By just talking to her. Giving comforting words. Reassuring her."

"I…understand."

After walking into the lobby, the two stopped in their tracks.

"Hey, Tak! Ya found her. Is she alright?" Tank asked from upstairs balcony.

"Yes, she is."

"That's good to hear. We'll rest here for a bit until the zombies come back. You got yer guns, Rosie?"

"Yeah, I'm all good." Rosemary walked up the stairs and sat at the top of them.

After a few minutes of resting and lying back on the stairs, she heard soft boot steps near her head and startled her.

"Hey, you."

"Hey, Tank."

"Mind if I join ya?"

"Sure, I could use some company."

Dempsey sat a foot away from her leaning against the wooden stairs.

"So, what's on your mind?"

"My sister, Zelma. I shouldn't have done it."

"Done what?"

"Pushed her. Prodded her. I pushed her into talking when she didn't want to."

"Doesn't she need the closure, though?"

"Sure, but on her own time. She lost her father and husband, too."

"Sheesh…that sucks. I'm sorry to hear that."

"The only man she's loved for seven years, and now, he's gone. Finally…"

"You didn't like him, did you?"

"Dempsey…"

"Yeah?"

"May I confide in you?"

After a moderate pause, Tank stared at her and nodded.

"Axel, my sister's husband, he changed….Ever since the zombies and stuff, he's just been controlling, overprotective and…unstable."

"Hmph, what d'you mean?"

"Mood swings, angry outbursts. He didn't want her going off on her own. Wanted to keep her on a tight leash. But when he didn't get his way or whenever she fought back, he punished her….He hit her. He punched her. He kicked her."

"That bastard…"

"We all tried to talk to her, tell her to leave him, but she said that she couldn't. We needed the firepower even more after Mom died."

"So, she stayed trapped in the marriage. Damn."

"It was too soon to push her to talk about this. She needed her space."

"I'm sure she'll still love you."

"Oh, sure she will….Zelma's all I have left now. It's just us now."

Rosemary felt herself tearing up again.

"I was close to Mommy, she was Daddy's favorite. Now, we have no one."

She inhaled sharply through her nose when she felt him grab her hand.

"No, that's not true, Rosemary….Nikolai lost his family. I lost everyone I knew. Takeo was betrayed. And Richtofen, well, he's got his own baggage. But that still doesn't mean you'll be fighting these freakbags alone. All of us are here for you. And we'll never turn our backs on you and Zelma. The four of us, Rosie; we're your family now. And we always will be."

"Really? Y-you mean it?"

"Hell, yeah…we'll be there for ya."

Tank held up his arm and hand as Rosemary laced her fingers with his.

"All for one…" Dempsey said.

"And one for all." Rosemary sniffled her tears back and gave Tank a tight hug just as Takeo patted her on the back. He nodded confidently, smiling at her.


	7. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Wachsender Verdacht

Growing Suspicions

The politeness and propriety that the Primis Crew had been displaying was all just a ruse, a mask, a fleece. The Crew was on pins and needles around the two girls and not for the reason one would think. Sure, they were all men with certain needs, but another growing concern was overshadowing the crew.

Dempsey had the other three men gather in the saloon for a private conversation while the women slept in front of the JuggerNog. So many puzzling questions kept buzzing around the group. Why did the women wear disguises? Why were they all alone in a big theater? Why the sap story about their "recently deceased" parents and Zelma's spouse? What was to stop them from thinking that they didn't off them? This meeting was to get all their concerns and opinions out in the open and decide what to do with the two suspicious sisters.

Dempsey poured some whiskey into four scotch glasses a quarter full and passed them out before speaking up.

"I guess you all know why I brought you here."

Takeo shook his head.

"Not a clue, my friend." Nikolai downed his whiskey and poured himself another glass.

"Well, it's the Wolfe girls."

"Vhat about zhem?" Richtofen shrugged.

"Well, what d'you guys think of them?" Tank grumbled.

"That Zelma girl is joy to be around!" Nikolai nearly shouted.

"Ssssshhh! Dammit, Nikolai. Shut up." Tank slapped him. "The last thing we need is for those snakes to wake up."

"Vhat zhe hell is jour problem, dummkopf (dumbass, dumbshit)?" Richtofen put himself between the two men as Takeo joined him.

"Those girls are trouble. Hell, that Zelma, she can shoot those freakbags like nobody's business, but we got enough to deal with without them, joining us."

"You do not trust these newcomers." Takeo pointed out.

"No, I do NOT! Just more stress to add to our plates." Dempsey hissed.

"Zhat little one, Rosemary..." Richtofen sighed. "She is a burden to us. Just more veight vor us to carry."

"Exactly my point, doc." Dempsey said.

"Why the girls look like men when we met them?" Nikolai asked.

"Beats me," Tank said, crossing his arms. "Maybe they're not with us at all. They got their own agenda to follow."

"What do you speak of?" Takeo asked.

"They're with the enemy. Maybe Nazis, Waffen-SS, maybe even part of that scientist group." Dempsey said.

"Zhey could be with Group 935." Richtofen pointed out.

"They are not with mother Russia, that's for sure." Nikolai said drunkenly, finishing off another glass of whiskey.

"Maybe zhey could use a visit from zhe doctor." The crazy look in Richtofen's eyes soon returned.

"I never thought I would say this, but great idea, doc."

"You suggesting we tie up girls and get answers?" Nikolai asked his comrade, feeling unsure whether to turn on them in times like this.

"Ve need to know who ve're dealing with, Nikolai."

"Yeah, doc. And who better to extract info then you."

"What if the girls won't talk to us?" Takeo asked.

"We can't take any chances with them, Tak. We'll have to shoot them." Tank said, cocking his duel pistols.

"Vhere are the Volfe girls?" Richtofen said, preparing two, filled syringes with long, thin needles.

"By the JuggerNog." Dempsey pointed.

"Gentlemen, vollow me...Quietly."

As the crew slipped into the dressing room, onto the stage and down the left side of the automatic turret, Richtofen stopped abruptly. He gestured for them to wait where they stood, and they obeyed reluctantly.

After a long minute passed, the doctor was just two feet away from where the girls slept. He first looked at Rosemary and gently injected one syringe of clear fluid into her neck. She was sleeping so heavily she just swatted him away before going completely limp. Unfortunately, that motion of becoming unconscious made her light-sleeping sister wake up, making him take two quiet steps backward.

"Rosemary, are you having a nightmare again?" Zelma mumbled.

No answer from Rosemary.

"Rose?" Zelma shook her gently. "Rosie, wake up. Wake up!"

She then took notice of the pinprick on her neck and dabbed it with her index finger, rubbing the drop of blood between her fingers.

"What the hell is this?"

Zelma's body froze for a split second, then she sprung to her feet.

"Richtofen, what did you do to my sister?" She said venomously.

"It is none of your concern."

She glanced at the other full syringe in his right hand.

"Du arschloch (You asshole)..."

She unsheathed her ballistic knife and lunged for the doctor, but he stepped to the side and pushed her into the wall, knocking her to the ground.

She had a slight concussion as the doctor straddled her body and fought with her violently to restrain her. Holding her by her shoulders and forearms only left her lower body free as she flipped his body and tried to crawl and get to her feet.

The doctor grabbed both her ankles and dragged her back to him as he straddled her again and quickly grabbed her by the neck and turned her head to the side to expose her carotid. Dempsey and Nikolai helped keep her stable as Richtofen finally injected her with the serum.

After screaming "NO" several times, her limbs finally started to slow down and her body succumb to the sedative as she drifted off to sleep again...


	8. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Die Wölfe Verhören

Interrogating the Wolves

20 Minutes Later...

The girls were roped to a pair of chairs with their hands crossed behind their backs and tied in knots. Their mouths were taped closed and their ankles were taped to the chairs' arms as well as tied up.

Doctor Richtofen, of course, did the tying up and taping. He was the most paranoid and skeptical of the two sisters. But it was his idea to simply be friendly and play along and see if their motives were benign or if they had some sort of ulterior motive behind their actions. If so, then they are merely acting friendly and putting on a mask for the men.

Now that the sisters were immobilized and unconscious, this was the time to speak freely about the sisters and discuss their thoughts and focus on what they should do now.

"My plan has vorked to perfection." Richtofen crossed his arms.

"For now." Tank corrected, getting pissed when the doctor rolled his eyes. "I still think we should move on, get as far away from these girls as possible."

"That sounds like good plan," Nikolai agreed with him. "We cannot hang around these girls if they have some sinister plans we have yet to figure out."

"We do not know if what the Wolfe sisters say is the truth. Did they really lose their father and mother?" Takeo asked.

"We don't know for sure, Tak." Tank pointed out. "But we can't stick around to find out."

"I suggest ve get our answers now...vhile we have zhe opportunity to do so." Richtofen said in a monotone, listening to everyone's thoughts while collecting his own.

When they turned around and broke from their circle, the girls were still asleep. So Richtofen grabbed his pair of prepared serum and injected them into the girls' necks. Then he removed both of the strips of tape that covered their mouths. Rosie was the first to come out of her induced sleep. Her eyelids twitched for a moment as she tossed her head heavily.

"Hello...? Hello...?" Richtofen said loosely.

"Hey, Rosie!" Tank snapped, causing the others to shush him.

"Vhat is zhe matter mit jou, Dempshey?!" The doctor smacked him with the back of his hand.

"Doctor...Doctor?" Rosie mumbled as her eyes slowly opened.

"Ja, it is me, kleiner (little one)..."

"W-wwhere am I...? Why am I tied up? Why is Tank pissed at-"

"Shush, my dear...don't pay no mind to zhis, zhis dummkopf."

"Why is he mad? Are those...needles? What the-?"

"Like I said, never jou mind about him. Ve just have some quvestions vor jou und jour sister."

"O-o-okay, fine. Shoot. Just get it over with and untie me."

"Vhy are jou here? Tell us vhy are jou really here."

When Rosemary opened her mouth, suddenly, she was startled by her sister's violent shaking and writhing about trying to free herself.

After panting heavily, she finally spoke. "That's none o' their business, Rosie. Don't tell 'em anything."

"Zhen so be it. Nikolai...?"

He handed him an MR6 pistol and the doctor aimed at Zelma's forehead. "This is horseshit."

"Shut up, Zee."

"You ain't gonna pull the trigger."

"Shut. The Fuck. Up. Zee."

"Are jou vready to die vor poor, little Rosemary?"

"Yes." Zelma never blinked as she kept her eyes locked on the doctor and not his pistol. Then, there came a soft click; the gun was empty.

But the click made Zelma quickly turn her head and close her eyes tightly.

The doctor saw a single tear drip from both of her eyes.

"Just as I zhought."

He grabbed a full mag from Dempsey's belt, cocked his pistol and aimed it at Rosemary as her eyes contracted and her breathing rapidly sped up.

"Now, let us try zhis again, shall we?"

Rosemary whimpered and cried as she hyperventilated.

"ALRIGHT, OKAY! I'll talk, I'll talk. I will tell you everything, just don't kill me!...Please..."

The doctor gave the gun back to Nikolai.

"You are one fucked up doctor, y'know that?!" Zelma cursed.

"Zelma, you've done enough talking for me already. You're lucky he didn't pull the trigger on me, so shut the fuck up and let me do the goddamned talking!"

Her sister was shellshocked. She hardly ever called her by her first name, nor did she ever get pissed off at her. So Zelma smartened up and kept quiet.

After Rosemary took a few, deep breaths, she finally spoke. "Okay. I'm ready. Tell me what you want to know."

"Why were you dressed like a man?" Nikolai asked.

"Yeah, why use a disguise?" Tank grumbled.

"Well, that's kinda...personal..."

"We got all night, honey." Tank said with sarcasm. "It's not like you're going anywhere, either."

"Ugh, fine. It-it was about two months ago. We came across a few survivors. A couple of Americans were lost and trying to find their platoon. My sister was asleep one night and one of the guys pulled me aside and said that he just wanted to talk to me. So after we did, he kept...complimenting me, getting all touchy and just being a bit too flirty. So when I walked away, he grabbed my wrist and threw me to the ground. His buddy held a gun to me and...They had their way with me and my sister couldn't help me. I was raped...over and over...until I heard my sister near a bush, trying to do her business. The buddy left and that's when I screamed as forcefully as I could. She killed him and beat the other guy within an inch of dying before strangling him and slit his throat afterwards...

"It was my idea to hide my gender. To put on a brave face as my sister's skinnier, muscular brother." Rosie finished and the guys were dumbfounded.

"I...I do apologize, kleiner. We did not know zhat was zhe reason for zhis deceit. And your scars...have truth behind zhem. I zhink all of us owe you both und apology. I'm sorry."

"So am I, Rosie. I-I didn't know."

"I am sorry, Rose." Takeo bowed.

"I am sorry, too, Rosie." Nikolai said. "You must remember that you survived this traumatic experience. You are stronger from it. Remember that."

"I will." Rosie nodded.

"So that story about losing your parents was true, too?" Nikolai asked.

"Every word of it."

"And your sister losing her husband?" Tank asked her.

She nodded. "I can't speak for her, guys. She was very close to Axel. Only she can tell you more. But it'll come in time."

"Axel was my husband. Knew him for three years, married for seven. We fought the hordes together. With mom and dad."

"You loved and you lost, sisters," Nikolai said. "But they are always with you, in your hearts."

"Thank you, Nikolai. That's...really sweet."

"I hate to interrupt this touching moment, but we're still tied up here."

"Yeah, so?" Tank shrugged.

"I would appreciate if you untied us because I am starting to lose feeling in my hands and feet." Rosie said politely.

"Oh, of course, my dears." Richtofen got out his knife.

"Please hurry," Zelma hissed hastily. "I am not having my hands and feet amputated anytime soon."

"Oh, come now, mein liebchen (my sweetheart). It vill be wunderbar. Und look at zhe bright side: ve could call you Stumpy!"


	9. Chapter 7

p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Chapter 7/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Die Gesellschaft der Wölfe/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"The Company of Wolves/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"PART 1/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"After the Wolfe sisters were untied, the guys decided to make themselves useful and go do their own thing. Nikolai field-stripped his KRM and began to clean it. Dempsey took off somewhere to go do his business and Takeo spent time, polishing cleaning his katana./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Where are you going, doctor?" Rosie asked./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I shall begin vork on zhe MDT." Richtofen said flatly./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""MDT?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Zhe teleporter." He simplified it. "Ve are going novhere vizhout (without) it vorking again."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Oh, duh. Of course, doc." Rosie tried to play off her ditzy moment, but he just shook his head. "Hey, Zee, did 'ya see where that Tank guy went off to?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""No, Rosie, don't bother him."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Aww, why not?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""He said that he was going to take a piss."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Oh, fine. I'll just find someone else to talk to."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"As she went off to go pester Takeo, Zelma just rolled her eyes./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Ugh, fuck it. Hopefully, Takeo will let her down gently."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Zelma didn't feel like talking to anyone at this point. The demented doctor Richtofen aimed a gun at her and her sister just to intimidate and interrogate. And when she heard the sound of an empty click from his gun, she knew it was all a bluff. But what intrigued and also bothered her was the fact that she showed weakness in front of Richtofen. And he noticed it. But his twisted smile faded when he saw her go soft. Not as in his smile leaving his face, but as in it was a genuine smile of deep concern and...something else. Guilt? Sympathy? She didn't know. But she wanted to find out if there was more to this strange man than just his twisted psychosis./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"As she moved the chairs back to the orchestral area, she saw that Richtofen wasn't anywhere near the so-called MDT. All she saw was the pod-shaped teleporter with several, spike-shaped electrical conductors and a bunch of cords strung along the floor that led to the lobby. And near the MDT was a control panel full of strange buttons and a bar-shaped lever./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"She slowly and curiously reached for the lever, but quickly retracted her hand./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Don't be an idiot, Zee. You don't know what this does yet."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Suddenly, she heard a two-toned beeping noise. One high beep, then a low beep. Then the cords started to glow blue as the electricity coursed through them, causing the teleporter to receive the electricity and pulse and whir energetically./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Aaaaaahaaaa! Wunderbar!"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"The doctor's cries came from the lobby./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Doctor!? Are you okay?" Zelma called back as he came jogging back into the theater and up on the stage./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Oh! Never better. Zhe MDT is vorking perfectly."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Are you sure 'bout that, doc?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I zhink so. But zhere's only one vay to know zhat."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Richtofen put down his things had with him and stepped into the MDT./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. What are you doing?!"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I must know if zhis MDT is vorking."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""You don't even know what it's settings are or nothing. It could take you into the past or future. And you're just gonna step in without a second thought?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Not to vorry, mein cautious fraulein (young lady). Zhis teleporter vill take me to zhe projector room above you, zhen it vill bring me back. Here, I'll show it to jou..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"A moment came and passed./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Uh, you're still here, doctor."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Pull zhe lever first, zhen push zhe big red button zhere."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Zelma slowly put her hand on the lever and gripped it tightly. Then she closed her eyes and gave a quick tug and pushed the big, red button next to the lever. The MDT coursed with blue energy as the electricity crackled and the teleporter's door swung heavily to the right, enclosing the doctor inside./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Just then, Zelma panicked and scrambled towards the MDT, banging on it with all her strength. "NO! NO! No, no, no, no, NO! Doctor! Doctor?! Richtofen?!"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"She tried prying open the door, but it was futile. She just fell against the machine and dropped to her knees./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Rosie and Takeo came running in first, then Tank, then Nikolai./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""What's going on, sis?" Rosie said hastily./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Where is the German?" Takeo asked calmly./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""He-He went inside this fuckin' thing!"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""He what?!" Tank blew up like a frag grenade. "Why the fuck you let 'em do that for? Are you out of your mind?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""He said he was going to test it."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""You could've done something to stop him." Tank snapped./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I am not the crazy German's nanny, okay?! He went in on his own."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""WE have all been through time and space with that German, my dear Zelma." Nikolai explained. "We cannot let him do this again, do you understand?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Kind of, not really."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Nikolai will explain later. But first, where is doctor?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Suddenly, the teleporter came ajar slightly, then resumed swinging open to the left as the doctor emerged, unscathed and miraculously in one piece./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Doctor Richtofen!" Zelma didn't realize how enthusiastic and relieved she sounded. "Mein God, you're alive..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"All he gave her was a pat on the shoulder and a little smile on his face before his eyes drooped and he fell forward with a loud thud, which startled the sisters./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"He rolled slightly onto his back before his body fell limply to the ground./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Doctor Richtofen? Doctor? Doctor?" Zelma tried shaking him but to no avail./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Hey, doc, stop foolin' around an' get up!" Tank shouted./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Is his heart beating?" Rosie tried lifting his arm and hand, but it collapsed heavily beside his body./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I don't think so, sis." Zelma hung over his body and put her ear to his chest for a long moment and felt her body get chills. "I don't think he's breathing."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Rosie felt his wrist with two, slender fingers. "He doesn't have a pulse, either."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Everyone, I need your help right now. Rosie, get me my trauma and first aid kit. Tank, bring a bundle from my backpack. Takeo, put your pack under his knees and elevate his legs. Nikolai, bring me that table over there."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Zelma had everyone disperse as the Russian quickly brought over a long table. Zelma lifted him from under his arms as Takeo helped her bring his body up on the table. Nikolai removed Tak's backpack as Zelma saw Rosie and took the kits from her and the blanket bundle from Tank./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Zelma tilted the doctor's head back straight and quickly checked his airways for any obstructions. "Okay, his head is straight. His airway is clear. Now I can do mouth-to-mouth."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Tank snickered./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Wipe that little smirk off your face, Corporal." Zelma snapped in a harsh tone./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Y-yes, ma'am." Her sharp tongue slightly intimidated the hardened soldier./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"As she pried his mouth open, she gave him two, full breaths and watched for his lungs rising and falling./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Now time to make his heart beat."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Zelma started the chest compressions and did fifteen reps. Then she gave him two full breaths and another fifteen chest pumps./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Rose, honey, check for a pulse."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Rose obeyed and gasped. "There's nothing, Zee. He's still not breathing yet."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Oh, my God." Zelma gave two full breaths again and did chest pumps once more. "EDWARD! Come on! Please, come back to us! Don't die on me, come on, doctor! Please!"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Come on, Doctor Richtofen." Rosie encouraged./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"And just as she gave another two breaths, she felt him lurch forward and cough forcefully. She took Tank's blanket bundle and put it up under his neck./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Hey! Hey, doctor!" She patted him firmly on his shoulder, waiting for his coughing to cease./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Ugh, vhat happened to zhe doctor? Vhy am I on a table?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Take it easy, doctor." Tank said hesitantly./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Vhat's wrong?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""You came out of the teleporter and you collapsed." Rosie explained. "Luckily, my sister knows CPR. She revived you, doctor."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Vh-vhat is zhe meaning of zhis I'm hearing?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""My sister brought you back, doctor."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""You mean...?" Richtofen looked at Rosie and the others as they all nodded. Then he looked back into Zelma's exhausted eyes. "Miss Zelma saved mein life?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Yes, doctor." Zelma nodded. "I did...Is this normal for the MDT?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Ja, sometimes zhis happens. But not often."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Richtofen got up silently off the table, laid a hand on Zelma's shoulder, nodded and left without saying a word./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""What was that all about?" Tank asked./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I don't know. Maybe the doctor's in shock?" Nikolai suggested./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I don't know, Nikolai. But I'm gonna find out." Zelma sighed and walked briskly after him./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Meanwhile, Rosie and Takeo continue to talk about what it was like to protect an emperor and what his customs in Japan were./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""So what religion does a samurai practice, Tak?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Shinto. Buddhism. I often meditate so that my chakras are always in balance and flowing smoothly."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Chack-rah's?" Rosie failed to pronounce it./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Chakras, my tomodachi (friend). Their are seven within a person's body. Swirling pools of energy within us. The stresses and problems caused by our living out our lives can block this energy from flowing freely. And that means...?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""The energy can't...flow?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Takeo nodded once. "But once it is cleansed, everything flows."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Oh, wow. I didn't know that. Is it calming?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Yes. But also an intense, out-of-body experience."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Can you tell me?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Do you trust me enough to confide in me all that I ask you about?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"After a long pause, Rosie nodded. "Yes."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""First, the earth chakra. At the base of your spine. Centers around personal survival instincts and is blocked by fear. Primal fear. What terrifies you?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""The zombies, the undead..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I understand." Takeo said, closing his eyes again as he and Rosie kept their lotus meditative poses still. "What else?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""That girl, Samantha...the guys that defiled me..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Your fear are now laid before you. Survival is a given. Fear is a choice. You can choose to be fearful or confront these fear and conquer them. Now we meditate..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"After a few, long breaths, Takeo spoke again./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Second is the water chakra, located at the sacrum, the very bottom of your spine. This deals with pleasure and is blocked by feelings of guilt. What do you feel guilty of? What do you blame yourself for?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I know, at times, I'm too curious for my own good. And this irritates Zelma to no end. And I blame myself alot for the arguments that happened between her and I."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Curiosity is both a blessing and a curse. But it is who you are and you cannot hold that against yourself. These arguments happened and that is okay. You cannot let this stop you from being who you are and from what you do in the future. You just have to accept them and forgive yourself before forgiving others."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"A few moments later.../span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Next is the fire chakra in the stomach. Willpower governs and is corrupted by shame. What are you so ashamed of that has haunted you still to this day? Any mistakes that you have made that have hurt others?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"As Rosie heard this, she got a flood of memories. The scars that Zelma got from when she first shot a gun. She only had but minutes to learn before their was a flood of zombies storming their house and she accidentally shot her in the leg./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Because of my incompetence with guns, I hesitate to help my sister kill the zombies. They all come after me like maggots after dead flesh and it just makes my sister even more protective of me."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I understand. The undead seem to be fonder of you than any of us. But a team is only as strong as its weakest member. We cannot lose you nor anyone else. You must kill the undead or they will overwhelm you. What would your sister feel if she found you dead? I see the way she looks at you. I sense that she loves you very much."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Mom and dad told us to look out for each other, and...I promised them I would."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Therefore you must keep that promise and overcome your shame...Breathe, and let the shame flow down and out of your body..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"A few breaths later.../span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Next, is the air chakra...in your heart."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Love, I'm guessing?" Rosie asked./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""That's right. And it's blocked by grief. Who do you grieve for?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""My mother, father, everyone I have lost because of the hordes..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Love, like all emotions, is a form of energy. Nothing you love is lost forever, Rosemary. It is reborn, reincarnated in the form of new love-someone new you have feelings for..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Actually, there is someone new...the American, Tank Dempsey."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""A noble warrior. Honorable, he is."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"After letting her grief leave her heart, they moved onto the sound chakra located in the throat. Centered around truth and blocked by lies. One cannot lie and deny themselves or their own nature or the nature of humans as a species./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Once this chakra was cleared, they moved onto the light chakra located in the middle of the forehead. It dealt with insight and was blocked by illusions./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Even in death, the undead still carried with them element 115, which, in itself, carried its own form of energy when it brought dead bodies back to life and reanimated them. Takeo mentioned that all energy is only borrowed, e.g. life. And someday, you have to give it back (when you die). Things that you think are separate like lands, continents and elements are all interconnected as one whole. We, as humans, live separately, but we are all together as one species as a whole./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"These chakras were relatively easy to clear, but the last one was the hardest to grasp and accept for most./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""The last chakra is the thought chakra, located on the crown of one's head. This deals with the energy of the universe and is blocked by earthly attachments that tie you to this land. Once you let go of your earthly attachments, you'll truly be at peace."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Rosie thought of Dempsey and she began to cry. "I can't. I can't let go. How do you let go of someone you love or like alot, Takeo?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""What if you were overwhelmed by zombies and couldn't help Dempsey?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Well, I..." Rosie sighed when she thought of not being able to help him./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""You cannot save everyone by yourself. You will not be able to save those you love at will. You must let them go and have faith that they will be unharmed..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I will open up that chakra when I can come to accept it...But not now."'/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I understand completely, Miss Rosemary."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"As Takeo took out his katana and used his oil of cloves to clean it, Rosie said something that made Takeo stop./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""A katana, the noblest blade for a noble samurai. His preferred weapon of choice. Used by him and his kaishakunin when asked to perform seppuku."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""You've studied ancient Japan..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""We had a lot of classes growing up."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""That is very honorable."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Oh, uhm, thank you, Takeo..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;"Dempsey's footsteps stomped past them as Dempsey went to the bar to have a drink. A sigh escaped Rosie's lips, and Takeo noticed this and smiled./span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I will let you get to work, Takeo."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I enjoyed your company very much, tomodachi."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""What does that mean?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""It means 'friend' in my native tongue."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""Oh, I see...so are we friends now?"/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;" /span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c"span style="font-family: Source Sans Pro, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"span style="font-size: 18px;""I suppose we are, Rosemary..."/span/span/p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" data-p-id="e904b1e02c663a75ce6f78d85184071c" /p  
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; padding: 0px;" /p 


	10. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Die Gesellschaft der Wölfe

The Company of Wolves

PART 2

Zelma stood a few yards behind the doctor, contemplating whether to even waste her breath and effort into getting an introvert like Richtofen to notice her. He doesn't seem like he's interested at all. She hadnt noticed a change in behavior so she decided to play it safe and just talk while he worked and seeing where the conversation went from there. Or if he would even notice her talking aloud.

As she saw richtofen close the console and screw it tightly, she took a big breath and marched over to where Richtofen had plopped himself: sitting on top of the mystery box. As her footsteps slowed to a crawl, the doctor looked up.

"Ah, Miss Zelma." He said flatly.

"Doctor Richtofen..."

"Vhat is it jou need?"

"What makes you think I need something?" Zelma got defensive for some unknown reason.

"Jou zhink I did not notice your muttering, jour voicing jour zhoughts aloud?"

"Yeah, so? What's wrong with that?"

Richtofen's gaze grew more intense. She thought to herself, The worst thing he can do is ignore you and not notice you at all...just start talking...

"I was just going to ask if you had a moment to talk with me. It's...kind of important."

"Well, come zhen. Tell zhe doctor vhat ails you so."

"It's...complicated."

"Zhe doctor's listening, Miss Zelma." There he goes, being formal again...it's cute, kind of...come on, Zee. Stay focused...

"Well. Here goes. A little while ago, when you aimed your gun at me...I have to be honest, I had never felt more terrified in my life. Not for myself, but for my sister. She's all I have left. I made a promise to keep her safe."

"I understand, fraulein. You loved your parents very much, ja?"

"More than you know."

"And you keep jour family close to your herz (heart)?"

"I do...When I saw you point that gun at me and my sister, I couldn't help but notice that you...Did you hesitate to shoot?"

His gaze was unwavering.

"Be honest, Herr Doctor."

"Ja, I did, Miss Zelma. I saw zhat innocent look in jour blue eyes and zhey remind me of mein own as a young boy."

"We are all still human, doctor. No matter what we have gone through."

For the first time, she heard him let out a long, tired sigh. "For so long, I try so very hard to do the right thing."

"You should, doctor."

"Even if it's hard?" She heard the concern in his voice. "Even if I must do bad zhings for zhe greater good?"

"More so when it's hard. More so for the greater good. You've been through alot, but you always have the chance to do right by yourself and make better choices."

"But vhat if it is not zhe right zhing to do? Maybe it doesn't matter anymore..."

"Richtofen, listen to me. I know what you're going through because, at one point, I was you. Scared of everything that would happen, terrified of things that may or may not happen. But when I lost my mom and dad and mein Axel, I made a promise to never hesitate again. Even if it made my sister angry, my choices are for our own good and safety, not to please others."

"Vhy do jou do such zhings?"

"For my parents. For my sister. For myself. For the hope that, one day, all this will soon come to an end. My vater once said, 'Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is still a mystery...'And..."

"Vhat is today, zhen?"

"It is a gift. That's why they call it 'the present'. What you do now, Richtofen, you do for yourself and for others to make the next day better. Have hope that you will be rid of these hordes once and for all...and that you can finally relax in a place to call your own."

"So, vhat I do now, I should still do to try and secure a better tomorrow?"

"Yes, doctor...doing the same thing expecting a different outcome is the very definition of insanity. So do differently. Make different choices. Make a different tomorrow, and make it better. If you hate the story you see now, if you hate to see history repeating itself, change yourself. Rewrite your own story. And you just might have a...happy ending."

"Alright, I vill try."

"No, you will do it, Doctor. Do or do not, there's no try...Say it. Say that you will change. Say that you will not give up hope."

"Alright...I vill change mein self. I vill not lose hope."

Zelma felt awkward about it, but she gave the vulnerable doctor a pat on the back and a firm shake. She smiled at him, but all he could muster was a frustrated sigh.

What else can I do...? What to do? I cannot ask him about my feelings just yet. I have already planted the seed...Wait a minute, plant the seed...of love, fondness, maybe...?

Zelma carefully reached over and put her hand on Richtofen's right cheek as he turned his attention towards her. That's when she gave him a long kiss...but she interrupted it abruptly when she realized she was getting into it too much. She broke the kiss and stared into his eyes. She felt herself blush deep red...

"Well, I better get going. See who my sister's bugging."

"Ja, ja, ja, of course...Miss Zelma?"

"Yes?"

"Zhank you. For coming to talk vith me."

"You're welcome, doctor. And by the way, there's no need for formalities. So call me Zelma, doctor."

"And jou...may call me Edvard (edward)."


	11. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Die Gesellschaft der Wölfe

The Company of Wolves

PART 3

Rosie was watching from a distance as Dempsey sat down at the bar. She thought that she would try to impress Dempsey by making him a few drinks that her sister showed her back when they worked at a club. They both interchanged places and worked as bartenders and singers.

Rosie went behind the bar and decided to give him the silent treatment to see if he would speak to her.

"Oh. Hey…."

As she finished mixing up a long island iced tea, she turned around to face him.

"Here 'ya go. Drink up."

"Thanks." Tank took a large gulp and set the cup down. "Mmmm, this is good."

"That's a long island iced tea."

"Well, whatever it is, you mixed it well."

"Thanks, Dempsey. I wasn't sure if you would even like it."

"I'm tense and stressed out right now, so I will swallow anything."

Surprised at the innuendo, Rosie spewed and spilled her ale she was drinking as the sweet apple aroma soaked into her tank top.

"Aaaawwww, son of a frickin'-ggrrrrr!" Rosie threw her empty ale cup and shattered it against the wall.

"Hey, you alright?" Tank asked.

"Yeah, I'm peachy keen. I just spilled my drink all over my favorite shirt."

"Oh, that's too bad…whoa…"

She was facing Tank when he started to stare.

"What's wrong?" Then she looked in the mirror. He could see right through her shirt. To say this was an awkward moment would be an understatement. "Oh, shit! I am so sorry 'bout this. Please excuse me."

Rosie scrambled out of the bar and ran upstairs to the barricaded bathroom area where she kept her stash of clothes. She took off her drenched shirt and bra as well as her soggy underwear and pants. She quickly threw on the first things she could see: underwear, sports bra, a towel, a dark red frock (dress) and a twin-tailed coat.

Suddenly, Rosie started to cry. Embarrassed over a stupid joke Tank made and making a complete mess of herself. What's worse is Tank saw through her wet t-shirt. As she made her way back to the saloon, she tried to force herself to stop crying just as Dempsey bumped into her.

"Hey, Tank."

"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Dempsey asked.

"Tank, I-I'm sorry." The waterworks came back with a vengeance.

"What for?"

"For spilling ale on me and making a ditz of myself. For being so clumsy."

"Oh, that? Heh, was actually pretty funny."

"What the fu-? Are you kidding me?! I nearly had a panic attack by the effing bathrooms! I was so embarrassed. I had to go change 'cause you could see right through my damn shirt and I didn't know what to think or what you were thinking of me…! I didn't want you to think I was just some ditzy, clumsy little-"

Her embarrassed rant was stopped in its tracks when Dempsey laid a hard, passionate kiss on her lips and snaked his arms around her waist.

Once he felt her body soften and loosen, he broke the kiss.

"Rosie, it's alright…'cause I think you're amazing."

"Really, you do?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"I knew it was him." Zelma hummed from the saloon as she saw them kissing at the top of the stairs. Her comment echoed just a bit too much for the lovebirds to hear.

"Sis, is that you?!" Rosie squealed.

"Mm-hmm."

"How much o' this did 'ya see and hear?" Tank asked.

"Mmm, only all of it…."

Zelma ascended the stairs and gave Tank a hug.

"You take good care of her, Corporal."

Dempsey saluted her. "Yes, ma'am."

Zelma simply walked away and went back to the theater to sit near the turret. She heard a soft patter of boot steps behind her.

"May I join you?" It was Edward Richtofen.

"Of course you may."

He nodded and sat close to her left side.

"I never did thank you for saving my life, Zelma."

"Oh? And how do you plan on thanking me?"

"I don't know, but I do not zhink zhis can be done vith vords."

"Take all the time you need, Edward."

Richtofen thought back to the kiss she gave him. It was long, passionate and full of…something. He didn't know what to make of how the kiss made him feel. Was it love? The concept of it was foreign to him. All he knew was that he cared for Zelma deeply despite the little span of time that they had spent together. She revived him and saved his life. He would do the same for her, more so than anyone else in the group. He wanted to be around Zelma for much longer than this. He wanted to be with her for as long as time would allow.

His thoughts were interrupted when she saw that Zelma had a large book in her hand. It looked to be a sketchbook. Some of her family, her husband, then dragons and other mythical creatures.

"Those you drew from life?" Edward asked.

"My family and husband, yes. But the others I draw as I go. Whatever comes to mind, I draw it."

"May I…'ave a look?" He asked a bit sheepishly.

Zelma closed it and handed it over to him.

Richtofen picked up where she had left off and began to look through pictures of couples. Random couples holding each other and kissing and sharing intimate moments. Edward got the same warm feeling again as he looked at every single sketch. "Vhat is it zhat jou felt vhile…drawing zhese people?"

"Well, I don't know any of them. I just drew what I felt."

"And what did jou feel when you drew zhem?"

"Well, these were right after my sister and I met you guys. I was missing my Axel, so I guess I felt…LOVE. Warm, passionate, deeply felt…love."

Edward closed the book and returned it to Zelma, but paused when her hand touched his. "May I ask you somezhing…?"

She nodded once.

"How do you know when you…love someone?"

"You've never felt it?"

"Nein. Not at all."

"Well, when you love someone, the rest of the world seems to melt away. That one person is your whole world. They mean everything to you. You want to spend every day, every hour, every minute and every second with that other person. Nothing else matters but them. You would kill for them, die for them, fight for them, do anything for them, all out of LOVE….But no one can tell you that you're in love, you'll just know it. You feel it. Through and through. From your head to toe. Balls to bones. It's…wunderbar."

Richtofen now knew what this new warm feeling was. It was love. He loved Zelma. But how could he show it? Maybe a kiss like the one she gave him?

Just do it, Edward…Kiss her…DO IT!

"Zelma…?" He called out to her. He needed a more secluded, off-to-the-side place to express his love for her, away from disapproving and gawking eyes.

He took her hand and held it tightly. "Kommen sie (come)."

He got down from the ledge of the stage and escorted her to the corner where the JuggerNog stood. He walked down the pathway past the mystery box, his eyes scanning for any of his comrades or her sister. Luckily, not a soul was found.

When he got close to the soda machine, he briskly picked up the pace and borderline forced her up against the left wall.

"Endlich, sind wir allein (finally, we're alone)…." He said under his breath.

"Edward…what are you doing?"

Without answering her, he crashed his lips into hers with force and held her tightly with one arm and resting his other arm against the wall near her head. Edward poured his heart into this most passionate kiss he was giving her.

She was reluctant at first; he heard her soft, nervous moans through her pursed lips. But she soon let out a longing sigh and opened her mouth for him. Once he felt her body stop resisting him, he wrapped his other arm around her shoulder and held her neck gently. After what seemed like an eternity, he let his partner come up for air.

"I think we have a problem, doctor." Zelma said in a mischievous tone.

"Oh, und vhat is zhat?"

"I think you've fallen in love with me."

And for once, a genuinely happy smile spread across the doctor's lips.

"I zhink I am in love with you, too…miss Zelma…but vhy on earth is zhis a problem?"

"Because I have fallen for you, too…"

Richtofen's smile grew wider still as he went in for another kiss, grabbed her thighs and hoisted her up to his torso, feeling her strong legs wrap around his waist. He moved up against the JuggerNog and sat down with Zelma in his arms….

Several Minutes Later….

(By the JuggerNog machine…)

"Liebling?" Edward said.

"Yes…?"

"May I confide in jou?" Edward averted his eyes.

"Please do so."

"To tell you zhe truth, when I first saw you crying for jour father und liebe, zhe virst vords I said vere traurig, aber schön."

"You thought I was sad, but beautiful."

"Ja...I zhought jou vere schön, süße und stark."

"Sweet and strong, huh? Wow...thank you, Edward." She chuckled and blushed at his compliment.

"Mein liebling…may I kiss you again?"

"You don't have to ask…just do it."

As they both proceeded to lean in, they felt their forearms burn and sear until a single, thick gash burned on their arms like hot coals. The zombies were back.

"Oh, no. Rosie. The guys. We need to find them, NOW!"

As Zelma rushed to the lobby, Edward cursed under his breath.

"Damn you, Samantha und Maxis!"


End file.
